Capt Dave Mistretta
Record breaking stretches of above 80-degree days for the past month, indicated an early spring. With sessions of cold fronts arriving for next week, things should get interesting. The jet stream dipped our way,moving high pressure away form us. This will allow cold fronts to usher our way for a week or two. The cooler weather should drop water temps down to temp of 70 degrees. Divers are still finding water temps quite cool on the bottom, so winter isn't quite thru with us yet.
During the long stretch of warm weather, numerous captains were rewarded with some awesome catches of some larger, kingfish. These rogue fish showed up closer to shore. Some of them tipped the scales well over 50-pound mark. Schools of black mullet have been spotted along our shoreline. They are confused a bit, with the warm weather, since cold fronts trigger their offshore journey to spawn. With no cold weather for weeks, these massive schools became giant kingfish attracters.
Many anglers also experienced great king action, in the 30 to 50-foot depths as well. These kings were found in large schools early. Numerous schools of sardines and pilchards arrived in these depths as well. Most of the spring run of kings remain south of us so expect a busy month for kingfish, once these sessions of cold fronts subside. The next few weeks will be hit and miss, since many of these big macks are migrating. They will arrive in large schools settling in for a few days then moving north.
Some anglers were also rewarded with a few blackfin. Seventy degrees water temps lure them into shallower waters during this spring transition. Herds of barracuda settled over many wrecks a few weeks early. Along with their migration, anglers also found large spinner sharks at the same locations.
